Couples Face Losing Working Tax Credits

Figures revealed in answers to parliamentary questions show 250 couples with children in part-time work in the Rother Valley could lose around £4,000 a year from this April, following a change to tax credit rules being introduced by the Government.

This change means that couples with children earning less than around £17,700 will need to increase the number of hours they work from a minimum of 16 to 24 hours per week or they will lose all their working tax credit of £3,870 per year.

Raising taxes and cutting spending too far and too fast has seen unemployment rise and the economy go into reverse, and many employers are cutting people’s hours. A recent survey by the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development found that one in five organisations have cut back on the number of hours that people work as a result of the economic downturn, with just 6 per cent increasing them.

With very few people in part-time work being able to increase their hours by up to 50 per cent at the moment, for a couple with children losing around £4,000 a year, or £75 a week, this change could mean going out to work makes no sense.

This tax credits bombshell is now just a few weeks away, so I hope that the Government will think again.